IQguy

Got my new E 320. Love the car.

Just got a call from the sales person that the survey will be mailed to me soon and they want a 100%. If I am willing to bring the survey to the dealership to fill out (???) then they will give me a free tank of gas. (Did I buy a Hyndai ?) or a key chain.

Since this is my first MB ever, do not have a clue why the survey seems so important to the sales person and dealership. (Sales person did not do a thing for me) Have not received the survey yet.

Will appreciate input from MB owners.

rayscar

I got a full tank of gas with my E500 without having to do anything with the survey. If they are only giving a free tank for a good survey I would take that into account when you complete it. Can you say bribe anyone. If they did their jobs correctly they will get a good survey without having to "buy" one IMO.

It is important because MB rates the dealers based on the results.

etenn

I agree with Ray. Just fill it out the way you feel truthfully about the whole transaction. If it is 100% ...give it to them...if not just say it like it is. Somehow taking the survey in to let them grade themselves is all wrong. Maybe some of these dealers need to be graded truthfully to upgrade the service we sometimes see reported here.

Geez....if they are going to bribe you they should at least show you some respect by making the bribe worthwhile.

My dealer did not ask me to "bring it in" or anything like that. They mentioned several times that I would be getting one and that it was important to them. They said that if I had any issues or problems, they would appreciate an opportunity to correct them if possible. Seemed very straight forward and honest.

I think I would noted on the survey if they had tried to pull some of the tricks we have heard about. By the way..it seems that a lot of the salesmen and dealers who gave bad service were the first to try to buy a good rating on the survey.

Just my opinion.

Ed

IQguy

Thanks rayscar and etenn for the input.

Survey is for the MB to know how sales persons and dealers are doing for the money they are getting paid from MB (I guess) Hence it is important that we fill it out truthfully.

What surprised me was the offer (Bribe) and that too so cheap!

schoon157

At least I got a set of floor mats for the survey on my C320.
Hopefully I can hold out for the same or a CD player for the E350 I am looking for next Feb when my C lease is up.

rickyfanmdr

I got a letter from my dealer telling me that I would be receiving a survey, but I haven't received the survey itself yet. They said that if any experience I had with them would be considered anything less than excellent, that I should contact them--they want me to be happy. No offer of anything for completing the form.

etenn

Sue...I think your dealer handled it the right way. They let you know it was important to them and that if you did not think they were "excellent" (a rating) then they would like a chance to make it up. That is fair and is a class way to earn an excellent rating. This other stuff is just bogus and cheapens the dealer in my opinion. It really isn't a surprise that the less thought of the dealer is...the more likely they try to buy the survey.

I don't suppose it ever occured to them to clean up the service and earn the high rating

Ed

briar

I also received letter and an email from dealer in advance of MBUSA survey. I took objective approach in completing survey, submitted, then contacted dealer to inform them of my response, whcih was 80% excellent and 20% OK. And told them reasons for less than excellent marks. Which mainly pertained to minor details. I feel that using this method allowed my to be objective and not put anyone in compromising posiiton.

IQguy

As such what can a salesperson/dealer do or not do is minor.
You pay and they give the car. They are just the middleman.

They should make this a plesant experience for us (buyers)

For example in my case the sales person agreed to everything on e mail (written) and then when I went to get the delivery added $500 to the price we had agreed on. When I asked why I was told the new invoice has IRG on it. (which I had specifically discussed in advance)

Now, for 500 bucks I could have cancelled the deal with my kids and wife in another car, all excited about the new 1st MB arrival 50 miles away from home,
or
option 2 I took the car and paid the price.

So, for a survey why would one hide such a fact?

I wonder if anyone else had similar experience. I love the car so much I thought Oh well, I could pay 500 more for it and have stayed happy.

Carnaught

I would have walked on the car for $500 more. A similar problem has happened to me twice before and when I refused and started to walk, each time the dealer recanted and I bought the car.

etenn

I am drawing a complete blank. What is "IRG"?

Ed

Rock72

i wrote about the customer survey bribe in here a few times in the past.

it's pretty common that they offer a tank of gas. i got a license plate frame (didn't need a tank of gas at the time). but with gas prices the way they are, i probably should have taken the gas.

anyway, it's common. i accepted it. i thought the dealer was pretty good so i was going to give them high marks anyway so i gave them the survey.

they requested that i bring in the survey blank and they'll fill it out for me and send it in for me (heh...like we can't all see through that one).

in case anything happens in the future to **** me off, i still have a photocopy of the survey at home. but i think i lost it now anyway.

Rock.

rickyfanmdr

I received the survey from MB yesterday and have filled it out objectively. I feel this was handled very professionally both by my dealer (Mercedes-Benz of Long Beach) and by MB.

darkLCD

If you truly want your answers to be objective, just use the postage paid envelope supplied by MBUSA that came with the survey and mail it back straight to MBUSA. The MBUSA survey explicitly states NOT to return the survey to the dealer, but to use the supplied envelope. Why return the survey to dealers where unsatisfactory answers could be changed or unsatisfactory surveys be tossed in the trash can (MBUSA would just assume that you never completed a survey). I agree with the earlier post that you should submit the survey to MBUSA and then call the dealer on where they scored poorly, that would get their attention.

However, if you did indeed receive exemplary service and would like the dealer to know about it, then by all means return the survey to the dealer and receive your freebies.

britton

I just sent my survey to mercedes. The salesperson I bought the car from did tell me If I was not going to give them a high mark on the survey to let them know and they would make good what problems I might have and would do their best to make sure they had a satisfied customer. I was very satisfied on the purchase of my new clk 320 and filled the survey out myself and sent it and gave them a good review. Giving the survey to the dealership to fill out just for free stuff defeats the purpose of the survey. It is not going to help the customer for the dealership to fill out there own survey.

Carnaught

Apparently these auto surveys can be more significant for the dealer than we think. It may influence their allotment of new cars and favorable recommendations which mean other "perks" from the factory. They strive to get "all excellents" because anything less give them "dings" against them, especially the individual salesperson(s). Also, they take very seriously any comments or issues one writes on the survey. From what I heard they are taken more seriously by Lexus, Jaguar, and Mercedes and in my experience (and What I've been told), less seriously by Nissan (Infiniti) and BMW.

I agree with other posts that their attempt at bribery and other means of circumventing the owner from being totally truthful, borders on unethical.